I’d like to start by calling out a distinction between “work ethic”, “business ethics” and just, well, ethics.
Work ethic is the value a person places on the work they do, and how they go about doing it. For example, if you both show up at 6am and work until 11pm every day and are heads down all day, you have a similar work ethic.
Business Ethics are there “code” by which one behaves at work – the rules one adheres to. For example, is it an acceptable practice for you to advertise to customers that you have a Money Back Gaurantee, but then have a ton of small print that basically means that they can’t get their money back? That’s business ethics.
Ethics is, for want of a better word, someone’s moral code. If someone operates under a different personal moral code than you do, then it’s up to you to determine whether or not they would make a good friend or colleague.
In your example, it sounds as if this person has lied to you and then stolen money from your company. That appears to be an overall ethics violation to me, and the business has nothing to do with it.
I’d cut ties.
Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-know-if-my-co-founder-has-good-work-ethics-or-not
Originally Posted On: 2017-03-11